Ship's repair work is, in many cases, concerned only with damage to the bows or to the stern of the vessel. Consequently, in such cases, it is unnecessary to place the entire vessel in dry dock. No suitable docks, however, have been proposed in which the damaged part of the vessel can be housed in a floating dock for repair work, whilst the remainder of the vessel remains afloat. Different, so-called semi-docks have been proposed in which sealing means are arranged to seal against the ship's hull so as to obtain a working area which can be pumped dry. Such docks are expensive in relation to their size and it is difficult to produce an effective seal.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention therefore relates to a dock which enables external repair work to be carried out, even on very large vessels, which is relatively inexpensive and which is so constructed that it can readily be transported to a ship in need of repair, which ship may lie against the quayside or at some temporary mooring, instead of it being necessary to tow the ship to the dock.
The dock according to the invention is characterized by the fact that it comprises a bottom potion which has a plurality of displacement tanks and which is of substantially rectangular configuration, said portion having a length corresponding approximately to half the length of the largest ship which might be conceived to require the use of said dock, and a width which is smaller than the width of said ship; a stem portion having displacement and stabilizing tanks and extending over a minor portion of the length of the bottom portion; and an U-shaped stabilizing body arranged adjacent the end of the bottom portion opposite the stem portion, said stabilizing body having a width which is greater than the width of said bottom portion.
In accordance with a further development of the invention, the stabilizing body can be formed as a working device which can be used separately from the dock.